His Chariot Arrives
With current talk of transportation options, some alternative mobility devices might be worth considering.
The Segway Personal Transporter is one device. The Segway has two large wheels and handlebars atop a vertical control stem. Some say the device reminds them of a rotary lawn mower. The rider stands between the wheels and leans to control direction and speed with the aid of the handlebars.
“The Segway is much like a bicycle with gyroscopic control,” says Andy Scott of Vermeer Company of Commerce City. “Once the rider is accustomed to the balance, it’s similar to walking with the assistance of wheels and the electric motor.”
Scott recently provided a Segway i2se Personal Transporter for me to determine if it could be used for urban commuting. My assessment is that the device could be useful for people who want a powered alternative to a bicycle or “step-through” motor scooter.
“It is legal to ride a Segway on the sidewalk because the rider is considered a ‘pedestrian,’” says Scott. “It can go even where there is no sidewalk, in grass or dirt. Riding in the street is also legal.”
But that claim may be questionable. While Segways are used by some Denver police and downtown parking enforcement agents, a police officer on 16th Street Mall told me there are no current regulations about where the Segway machines can be ridden. The officer’s companions, on motorcycles, nodded in agreement, saying there are not enough Segway scooters currently in service to warrant regulation by City Council.
A bumpy Denver ride
Riding a Segway on sidewalks is fine, but the walkways themselves are another story. The transporter, even with fat pneumatic tires, dramatically reveals the uneven and surfaces of many sidewalks. This rider is also confronted with low-hanging tree branches and a lack of curb ramps at many corners.
It is not hard to imagine the difficulties some wheelchair users must have with bumpy sidewalks. In the 2100 block of Colorado Boulevard, the jarringly uneven sidewalk disappears and becomes a gravelly trail. Denver’s consortium of neighborhood associations, Inter-Neighborhood Cooperation, has for many years called for sidewalk improvements citywide.
As for me, when I rode the Segway transporter along the uneven flagstone walkways in City Park, I quickly looked for a way to get to a park roadway.
Al Lewis alert
Segway transporters have an electric motor, fully charged from household current in about four hours. The transporter weighs about 100 pounds, is 25 inches wide, has a top speed of 12.5 MPH (similar to bicycles), and can go 24 miles on a charge.
Segway transporters can go indoors and fit through normal doorways. The rider is about nine inches taller on the device.
Segways have a starting price of $6,100. That is slightly higher than electric bicycles and many small 50CC gas-powered scooters. A Vespa scooter is about $5,000. Other means of transport, such as “Neighborhood Electric Vehicles” have beginning price tags around $6,000.
Business writer Al Lewis once disparagingly described the Segway transporter as “little more than a niche product for warehouse runners, postal workers, and law enforcement.” Lewis said “the 2009 movie ‘Paul Blart: Mall Cop’ cemented Segway’s image as a geek-mobile.”
Andy Scott of Vermeer Company disagrees. He says Segway vehicles are useful in construction and outdoor projects where quick, easy transportation is required. He says there is even a more rugged “all terrain” version for off-road travels.
They come from
New Hampshire
Scott rents Segway devices for about $25 per hour, but cautions it really takes almost half an hour to become thoroughly adept at handling the transporter. The weekend rental rate is about $170.
The “commuter” version can be equipped with a carrying case in front and an articulating handlebar bracket for small electronic devices.
An optional rack, similar to those for bicycles transport, is also available to carry the Segway transporter on the back of ordinary cars.
Inventor Dean Kamen brought the Segway transporter to market in 2001. Technology leaders such as Steve Jobs of Apple and Jeff Bezos of Amazon praised the device.
As they have always been, Segway transporters are made in Bedford, New Hampshire.
A quick Internet search shows similar devices, notably Segscooter of Sacramento (CA). Denver “special police” (parking enforcement agents) use a three-wheel chariot device. Police in eastern cities such as Philadelphia used the Segway transporters long before Denver officers got the scooters this year.
Oh and yes, I would cheerfully ride a Segway transporter for my three-mile commute – but the purchase price is too steep to make it economical.